It is a well known fact to people who wear the common four in hand neckties that the dangling pendants of the neckties tend to move around, usually in swinging motions, due to the person's movement or due to winds or breezes, etc. These movements of the neckties are bothersome to most people in a number of ways. They may make a person look untidily dressed, the neckties can touch food or drinks when sitting down or getting up in front of tables with food or beverages on them. Neckties which are free to move around can even be dangerous in industry, for instance, loose neckties may be caught in dangerous machinery. Altogether the free movement of the pendants of neckties is a nuisance to a large number of people. Prior art devices used to attach neckties to the front portion of shirts are desirable to many people and they are generally called "Tie Clasps."
In the market place there are two well known types of tie clasps commonly available. One is commonly known as a "tie clasp" and is shown in FIG. 1. This tie clasp is very easy to use and is effective. It has a disadvantage of preventing a slight vertical movement of the necktie, which is necessitated by some of the body movements of a person, such as sitting down or throwing one's head back. Some people do not like to use this type of tie clasp because it attaches the pendants rigidly to the shirt. Because of that, the necktie cannot be moved even slightly, which many people dislike or find uncomfortable.
The other commonly used device is usually called a "tie tack" and is shown in FIG. 2. The tie tack is more awkward to use than the tie clasp described above because it is often difficult to pierce the tie with the pin. It also has other disadvantages, some of which are: (a) One of its two parts can be lost; (b) the piercing of the tie can damage the tie. Many people prefer the tie tack because the chain allows a slight free movement of the tie and eliminates discomfort due to the vertical movement of the necktie when the user moves.
Both the tie clasp and the tie tack are not attached permanently to either the necktie or to the shirt and can be easily lost or require the user to look for the item before use. Having to look for such items is bothersome to many people since they are small in size and can be easily misplaced. In fact many people will frequently lose them. Also the two devices referred to in FIGS. 1 and 2 are visible from the front of the necktie and usually have to be adorned by jewelry like adornments which make them expensive compared to non-adorned devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,544 was issued to James Sinclair. This invention is essentially a large safety pin with a chain connected to one arm of the safety pin-like member and the other side is connected to a cross bar which is dropped into a buttonhole. This invention has a number of disadvantages compared to the invention disclosed and claimed herein and these disadvantages are:
1. When used as a permanent fixture connected to a necktie the large inflexible metal safety pin-like part will interfere with the knot of the common four-in-hand necktie when passing the front pendant through the knot which is done each time the necktie is put on or taken off.
2. As a permanent attachment to the necktie, the chain and crossbar can also make it awkward to pass the front pendant through the knot, the chain and crossbar can snag in the knot.
3. The permanent attachment cannot be permanently attached to a necktie because the cross bar may not be able to reach a buttonhole each time it is used. This can be overcome by making the chain as long, or longer, than the middle distance between two holes in shirts. But if that is done, the chain may cause the loss of the prime purpose of the tie clasp which is keeping the necktie close to the shirt.
4. In some instances having to use a buttonhole prevents vertical movement of the necktie in one direction. This is illustrated in FIG. 3. If the distance A from the member attached to the front pendant to the buttonhole equals to the length of the chain the necktie will be unable to move vertically upward. Such a movement is necessary for comfort for example, when a person throws his head back. In the case shown in FIG. 4 the necktie cannot move vertically down and the lack of such a movement can make the necktie bulge forward which many people dislike from an aesthetic point of view.
5. The space between the two arms of the safety pin like member has to be narrow in order to make it concealable. This narrow opening makes it awkward to push the back pendant through.
Another prior patent is U.S. Pat. No. 2,586,215 issued to Frederico. The differences between this patent and the present invention, if used as a permanent fixture, are:
1. This tie clasp is not concealable as the two side clips that are attached to the chain are visible from the front of the front pendant.
2. In order to allow vertical movement of the necktie, the chain has to be loose, i.e., its length has to be greater than the straight line distance between the two clips attaching it to the front pendant. In this case it does not serve as a means to keep the front and back pendants together.
3. Due to the fixed length of the chain between the two clips the distance the tie can move away from the shirt or the distance the tie can move in a vertical direction depends on the width of the front pendant. In the case of a narrow design necktie the necktie will move too far out. With very wide design neckties the length of the chain may not be enough to allow any vertical movement of the necktie without bending the necktie out of its normal flat shape. For the same reason the necktie will not be able to move around slightly, many people like to have their neckties move slightly. In the extreme case, for very wide necktie designs, the chain may not be long enough to allow attaching the clips to the edges of the front pendant.
In prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,116,525 issued to W. A. Kolby the disadvantages compared to the present invention, if used as a permanent fixture, are:
1. The cleats on the pins for attaching the tie clasp to the front pendant are not safe, the user can prick his fingers when attaching them to the tie or taking them out of the necktie.
2. No vertical movement of the necktie appears possible if this tie clasp keeps the fron and back pendants close together as is claimed.